Before you can perform you selection, you need to fully understand it. The following steps are designed to help you truly understand the depth of your theme, characters, emotions, and overall content. There are no short cuts to this. Make sure you take your time and completely analyze for each step.
1. Plot summary: read through your selection(s) at least three times so you gain an understanding of the overall storyline and content. Using the concept of a plot line (rising action that includes the conflicts which lead to the climactic point), type a summary of your story/play/poem. As you type, think of these aspects that may apply to your selection:
What characters are involved?
Explain the type of people they are.
What conflicts do these characters have with one another or an outside source?
What is the climax of the story?
Are the conflicts resolved at the end of the story?
What are some major twists and turns in the plot?
2. Character understanding: Make a list of all of the characters in your selection. Beside each one, explain the emotions, thoughts, actions, and tones depicted within this selection. (In poetry, this would be the Speaker of the poem.) After you finish that, write a description of how you imagine him/her to look. Consider height, weight, age, hair color, clothing style, mannerisms, or nervous habits. Write a full description.
3. Emotions: Go back through your selection again to underline, highlight, and/or label emotions that are evident in the selection. The key is to look for "target words" which the author purposely uses to help convey the emotions to the reader. Consider these concepts:
What emotions are obvious? Think of happiness, anger, despair, silliness, regret, loneliness, shock, etc.
Where would you pause and why?
Where would you read faster and why?
What transitions are between emotions or what startling revelations do you see within the characters?
4. Theme: After you have completely analyzed the content of your selection, you need to decide on the theme the author intended. What did the author want you to learn from reading this story? How can we apply the lessons learned by the characters to our own lives?
1. Plot summary: read through your selection(s) at least three times so you gain an understanding of the overall storyline and content. Using the concept of a plot line (rising action that includes the conflicts which lead to the climactic point), type a summary of your story/play/poem. As you type, think of these aspects that may apply to your selection:
2. Character understanding: Make a list of all of the characters in your selection. Beside each one, explain the emotions, thoughts, actions, and tones depicted within this selection. (In poetry, this would be the Speaker of the poem.) After you finish that, write a description of how you imagine him/her to look. Consider height, weight, age, hair color, clothing style, mannerisms, or nervous habits. Write a full description.
3. Emotions: Go back through your selection again to underline, highlight, and/or label emotions that are evident in the selection. The key is to look for "target words" which the author purposely uses to help convey the emotions to the reader. Consider these concepts:
4. Theme: After you have completely analyzed the content of your selection, you need to decide on the theme the author intended. What did the author want you to learn from reading this story? How can we apply the lessons learned by the characters to our own lives?
Practice 1
Practice 2
Practice 3
Practice 4